There can be only one.
After watching Saving Mr Banks you will watch Mary Poppins with a new-found admiration. The new Blu-Ray version also has a couple of interesting special features worth looking at.
The film was the culmination of 30 years of Walt Disney’s experience of making films, and to unjaded adult eyes it is still a delight.
Kids raised on Nanny McPhee, Studio Ghibli and Pixar find it old-fashioned, though, so be warned – your little ones might not be as impressed as you.
The story of the nanny who comes to set everything right has spawned many an imitation, but there will only ever be one Mary Poppins – Julie Andrews.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Classic bonus features are the ones also to be found on the dvd. These include a feature on how Mary Poppins was adapted for the stage play and one on the Making of Mary Poppins, which was filmed 40 years after the fact.
The footage from the original world premiere, which was broadcast live on local Los Angeles tv in 1964, is spliced together from a separate live radio broadcast and footage found in the Disney vault. It is a much more dignified affair than what we see on E! Entertainment these days.
The features on the movie magic that went into making the props and the audio animatronic birds, plus the stop motion animation and special effects, are fascinating to those who like to know how everything works.
Specific scenes are deconstructed and the original trailers and teasers are included, plus Andrews’s publicity spots.
The most fascinating feature is the one entitled Magical Musical Reunion featuring Andrews, Dick van Dyke and Richard Sherman. They talk about walking around the fully built set for the first time and meeting Walt Disney, plus the process the Shermans brothers faced when writing the songs and much nostalgia about a time long gone.
The Blu-Ray also contains a documentary on Jason Schwarzman and Richard Sherman meeting and talking about the creation of the really well-written, now classic, songs.
What would the Blu-Ray be if it didn't have a sing-along? This one even has Maryoke… as in karaoke with Mary Poppins.
The bonus short, The Cat That Looked at a King, is based on one of PL Travis’s stories and the little movie also features Andrews. – Theresa Smith